UFC 105 Results: Randy Couture Takes Questionable Decision Over Brandon Vera

Nothing questionable about the decision, I think.

Look, I like Randy but holding someone up against the cage doesn’t get you points. Well apparently it does. I understand having control is an issue. To me he tried to take Vera down the whole fight and couldn’t therefore it should reward Vera if anything. Vera took him down and knocked him down. I don’t get it. I’m sick of these effin judges!

There wasn’t much offense offered by Couture at all. I do not see him able able to KO or submit a single 205er in the UFC.

I guess these three judges felt octagon control was better than the damaging shots that Vera was hitting him with. He hit him hard early in the first, midway through the second and again in the third. Couture had very little overall offense and never looked like he was threatening.

is anyone excited for this fight?

yeah I don’t think either one of them stand a chance with GSP. Dan’s hands looked really good though. He also has a good chin and was hard to take down. I think GSP could get cought on the feet but he’ll definitely take Hardy down.

I think it was a good night of fights. Lots of good battles and knock outs. Who do you think gets fight of the night and knock out of the night?

It was very close decision, but i believe Randy won round 1 an 3. 3rd round was close but Randy landed some good combinations. Vera got that takedown, but didnt do much with it except lay there and Randy got back up and they slugged out the last 15 seconds! As far as someone said Randy couldnt beat anyone else at 205 cause he didnt look perfect tonight… Randy hasnt cut weight in 3 years (since his last fight with Chuck in ’06) so getting used to that again, possibly being jet lagged it could take alot of out him. Lets see how he does his next fight. I bet he looks alot better!!

But let’s talk a bit about GSP. He was very polite and respectful when he took the mic, he didn’t step too much in the octagon not to spoil hardy’s moment, classy as always.
Still not impressed though. Hardy’s gonna fly up in the air and get pinned to the ground, there GSP will apply his GnP 2.0 and … the end.

I think Vera knows he could’ve won that fight he did more damage clearly. This just goes to how much octagon control counts when scoring the fight. Randy controlled the fight but only by holding him against the cage. He did not get the takedowns he wanted and he did not stay busy enough for the ref to leave him alone.

Couture controlled most of the fight – now Vera had him wounded many, many times (notably in the 2nd), but never capitalized on it – that body (liver?) kick was nasty.

or did UFC 105 feel like it should have been UFN 20?

this is all bull, randy won rounds three and one ,and he was wining 2 until that shot at the end

Randy Couture, I was not impressed by your performance.

I got on this morning fully expecting to see a pretty one-sided discussion of how Vera was robbed and how, as much as people love Randy, him getting this decision seemed way more about it being Randy than about it being earned. Instead, it’s a fairly evenly split discussion. I expected much the same thing after Machida/Shogun. Just goes to show you, I suppose, that fights that aren’t ended are really hard to score and people really do see different things.

I didn’t see Randy do much of anything to win this fight, myself. I understand that “octagon control” is a component of the scoring, and I understand that he clinched Vera and got his back to the cage for long stretches. But I also saw Vera effectively clinching Randy at the same time and preventing Randy from doing much of anything with that control — Randy wasn’t able to get the takedown, wasn’t able to do much dirty boxing, wasn’t able to throw elbows or punches or knees from the clinch effectively, etc. I always find it interesting when people sometimes value takedowns immensely and other times say, “he got the takedown but didn’t do much with it.” In my mind, Couture’s octagon control was pretty similar in this fight — he got the clinch and got Vera to the cage, but didn’t do much of anything with it — and in the third round, Vera even reversed it and got a takedown of his own.

I actually scored the first round a draw on my card because neither guy did much of significance. They each landed a few strikes, Randy got Vera to the cage, Vera defended the takedown and prevented Randy from being able to do anything offensively. I actually thought Vera landed the crisper strikes during separations, etc., but not so much that he won the round. But Randy didn’t do anything at all with his “octagon control,” either. There seems to be almost no debate that Vera won the second round. He landed the most effective striking in the fight, dropped Randy, landed some ground striking, etc. The third round really seems to be the point of debate for most people, and I again thought Vera landed the far more effective strikes. Again, Randy had some of that “octagon control,” but he didn’t land significant striking as a result and did not land any more effective strikes than those Vera did. And then, late in the round when close rounds usually get “taken” by someone, Vera got a takedown. He didn’t do anything with it — but he got it. And Randy didn’t do anything with his “control,” either. So I gave that round to Vera.

I was surprised to see several people writing online that it never crossed their mind until Rogan said something that Couture might not have won. I thought Randy himself did seem surprised by the result, and his reaction to that question seemed to me to further that.

Regardless of whether you think Randy won clearly, Vera won clearly, or it was just too close to call, it’s another great exhibit for the pile of evidence that you should do everything in your power to prevent fights from going to the judges. You just never know what observers, including the judges, are going to see or how they are going to value those various aspects of scoring.

I scored it a draw. Neither guy went balls out for the win so why does either one of them deserve a W? It was just to close to call………again.

I don’t care.

Neither guy was impressive, the “fight” was barely a fight. I would say that the only clear losers were those of us who watched, but hell – it was free so no complaints.

And besides, the rest of the night was great.

Randy had a very few good flurries.
Vera had one good kick, or punch and no follow up but no combinations.
Randy held Vera against the cage doing nothing and even got restarted for it a few times.

Vera Knocked Randy down with a kick
Vera later had a sloppy take down and got the mount. did nothing with it but let Randy escape.

Randy Lost. So did Vera. They had to give it to someone and Randy is old.

Once again, I’m glad I didn’t pay $50 for this.

Bisping looked good
Hardy looks great.